1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to drawers and, more particularly, to drawers for office furniture containing a means for supporting hanging file folders.
2. Prior Art
In business desks and bureaus, it is important to provide efficient storage space for documents and files. Many earlier drawers were unable to efficiently store documents of different size and shape. Without the addition to the drawers of some means to arrange differently sized documents, the space within a drawer was poorly utilized and access to specific documents was difficult. Further, because of the various sizes of documents, such as letter size documents, which are approximately 11 inches in length, legal size documents, which are approximately 14 inches in length, and computer paper size documents, which are at least 17 inches in length, an efficient means for organizing, arranging and storing various sized documents within a single drawer was needed.
One method of solving this problem is a hanging file folder support which is secured within a drawer. U.S. Pat. No. 4,234,238 discloses a hanging file folder support which is adaptable for use in conventional storage drawers. The support consists of two type of alternative supporting rails; one for folders arranged parallel to the drawer side and one for folders that span the drawer sides. In one embodiment the spanning system is comprised of a pair of "h" shaped support rails which fit over the upper lip of the side walls of the drawer and run the length of the side walls. The support rails include an upstanding flange--the neck of the "h"--which actually supports the hooks of the hanging file folders, and support rails--the body of the "h"--which grip the side walls of the drawer by means of a ridged inner surface. In an alternative embodiment, the support rails are secured to the side walls by gripping clips. In this embodiment the hanging files are placed on the spanning rails. In both embodiments, this support rail system, secured by "gripping" clips, is only adaptable to drawer sides of a consistent thickness. Further, once a drawer is adapted for use for hanging folders which, for example, span the side walls of the drawer, that drawer may not be used to support hanging file folders which run parallel to the side walls of the drawer. In addition, the support rail securing clips used in this device may easily dislodge when the weight of the suspended folders on the upstanding flange becomes excessive.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,614,185 also discloses a device for supporting hanging file folders which fits over the edge of the side of a drawer. The device is secured to the sides of the drawers by a clamping means which can be easily dislodged. Further, the support rails of this device can only support suspended files which span the sides of the drawer.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,219,247 discloses a device to support hanging files for attachment to a specific type of drawer which has a low back, low sides, and a high front. This device is secured to the drawer sides by clips. The side rails of the assembly are preset in length and are not adaptable for use with common drawers where the sides and backs of the drawers are approximately the same height as is the drawer front. In addition, the spanning rails of this device are easily dislodged since they merely sit within slits in the top of side rails of the device.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,938,870 discloses another device for supporting hanging file folders which provides support only for hanging files which span the width of the drawer. While this system provides some latitude in the choice of thicknesses of the sides of the drawers, it will not support hanging folders which are either narrower or wider than the distance between the support rails.
Other support systems for hanging file folders are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,262,808 and 3,748,008. However both of these devices contain deficiencies similar to those previously disclosed.
There are also a large number of patents which disclose a hanging file support frame which is insertable within a drawer to support suspended folders including U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,526,277, 4,489,836, 4,475,657, 4,262,810, 4,176,753, 3,999,663, 3,977,527, 3,860,119 and 3,788,718. None of these suspended folder frame support devices are attachable to the side wall of the drawers. Also none are adaptable for the support of hanging file folders which both span the side walls of the drawers and run parallel to the side walls of the drawer. Thus, there is still a need for a hanging file folder support which can adapt to various document sizes while fully utilizing the space contained within a drawer.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to produce a hanging file folder support which is easily attachable to the drawers of desks and bureaus.
It is a further object of the invention to produce a hanging file support which can support hanging files both spanning the sides of the drawer and running parallel to the sides of the drawer.
It is another object of this invention to produce a hanging file support capable of supporting letter size, legal size, and computer size documents within the same drawer.
It is an additional object of this invention to produce a hanging file support which will not easily dislodge from the sides of a drawer.
It is a still further object of the invention to produce a hanging file support which will support hanging file folders, the tops of which are below the level of the sides of the drawer.
Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from consideration of the following description and the accompanying drawings in which a selected example of the construction of the invention is set forth to illustrate the invention.